Apparatus for coating and treating metallic materials



April 13 1926. 1,580,889

J. L. HERMAN APPARATUS FOR COATING AND TREATING METALLIC MATERIALS Filed Feb. 28, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 13 1926. 3,580,889

I J. L. HERMAN APPARATUS FOR COATING AND TREATING METALLIC MATERIALS Filed Feb. 28, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet z' and treatment of metal as it leaves ately upon its in which the coated material Patented Apr. 1 926.

A l ,,"1,58Q,88'9I. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

JosErH L. HERMAN, orrnonm, ILLINOIS,

i COMPANY, or

AssIeNon 'ro MIDLAND manurac'r'unme PEORIA, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

nrrnnarus FOR COATING Ann TREATING mE'rALLIo MATERIALS.

Application filed February 28,1925. Serial No. 12,342-

To all whom it may concern: J

Be it known that I, J osnrn L. HERMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful 1m provements in an Apparatus for Coating and' Treating Metallic Materials, of which the following is a specification. Tliis inventionhas reference to an apparatus for coating and treating materials having an iron base and particularly the coating wire used in the fence industry and for telephone and other pur-' poses. v

The invention has for its principalobject to provide an apparatus for carrying out the process shown and described in Letters Patent issued to me October '3, 1922, No. 1,430,648, for a purpose of coating and treating materials having an iron base.

The invention has for a furt er object an apparatus of the character (1 ribed, including a heat-treating furnace through which the coated material is drawn immedileaving the molten bath, and is heat-treated; such treatment having for'its object to produce. a coating more resistant to atmospheric rusting and corroding conditions than for ordina galvanized wire, and which further wi 1 permit a heavier coated wire to be used in wire fabricating machines without causing the coating" tocrack or flake off, as is the case with heavily coated galvanized wire coated by means of an ordinary galvanizing apparatus.

A still further object of the invention is to provide in a galvanizing apparatus a heat-treating furnace adapted to receive and heat-treat the coated wires immediately upon their leaving the molten coatingbath and in the provision of skimming mechanism located between the molten bath and entrance to the furnace, said skimmers adapted to remove skimmings, dross and-other foreign matter which might adhere to the molten the bath, but without materially reducing the thickness of the coating or the amount of coating metal on the wlre. A further object of the invention is to provide in a continuous wire galvanizing aparatus a skimming mechanism for removing the foreign matter which may be dragged out of the molten spelter bath by the liquid coating, without however,

removing the spelter' of the coating,

which includes a means of supplying a gaseous or liquid medium, below the melting point of the coatingmaterlal or foreign material upon the outside carried at any desired temperature of the coated wire and forming, in effect, a

I molten metal tube within the skimmings or foreign material surrounding the coating on the wire. In this matter the skimmings or fore gn material are skimmed ofi fro-m the coating allowing the 'wire to pass on with an unwiped heavy coating of zinc-spelter, which, if heat-treated, is made malleable, flexible and smooth.

That theinvention maybe more fully understood, reference is had to the accompany-1 mg drawings forming a part of this description, illustrating apreferred embodiment of the mvention, in which :-5

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, on a greatly reduced scale, showing the delivery end of a z1nc-spelter bath of the receiving end of a heat-treating furnace and my skimming mechanism assoclated therewith Fig. 2 1s a plan view .of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailedside elevation of my skimmer mechanism at the receiving end of a' heat-treating furnace; 3 Fig. ,4 is a front elevation of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a cross section through the skimmer mechanism-and partial longitudinal sectional view through the heat-treatingfurnace as the same would. appear if taken on the line, 5-5 Fig. 4, the view further illus -trat1ng the skimming of the foreign material on the coatedwire' by chilling or freezing such material, by leaving a moltencore for" the passage therethrough and the .wire a heavy coating of zinc-spelter;

Fig. 6 is aplan view, as appear if taken on the Fig. .7 is a detailed sectional View illustrating the means of applying the cooling- 'medium.

-Li ke characters-of reference denote corresponding parts throughout thefigures.

the samewould line 6-6Fig. 5, and

As is understood in the art of, galvanizing wire, :1 galvanizing; apparatus ordinarily includes an annealer,'ac1d baths, a fluxing bath, a dryer and molten-metal bath. I have elected to show only the moltenbath 1, and only .a section of that. For the 'urposes of carrying out the processof my atent, No

1,430,648, I also provide a heat-treatihgfun n nace 2,

provided with one or more longitu-- dinally disposed heat-treating chambers 3, through which the coated wires A are drawn and heat-treated. As the details of the heattreating furnace form no part of the present invention, except in its association with the molten bath and the skimming mechanism, reference will only be made thereto, or to such parts thereof, as will illustrate a practical carrying out of the invention.

The invention, in its preferred form comprehends a cylinder 4. supported at the entering end of the furnace 2 and formed or provided with a plurality of spaced annular groves 5, havin preferably tapered or oppositely inclined sidewalls 6. Over this cylinder and through these grooves travel the coated wires A which emerge from the molten spelter bath 1 with a heavy coatin of spelter and which preferably pass throug the heat-treater, or furnace 2 after crossing said cylinder, for heat treating the coated wires, in manner and for the purpose specified in my said patent. As the coated wires leave the molten spelter bath they carry with them skimmings and other foreign material, designated B, see-Fig. 5, which if not skimmed from the coated wires will leave the coating rough and uneven and the wires unsuitable for use in fabricating machines.

I provide, therefore, in connection with said cylinder 4.- a means of cooling the cylinder and maintain it at a desired temperature below the melting point of the coating of skimmings and foreign material, and which will chill the skimmings in contact with the cylinder and skim the same back on the wire. The layer of spelter between the frozen exterior of the skimmings and the wire being in a more or less molten state a heavy but smooth coating is carried forward with the wire. This cooling means may be either a gaseous or liquid medium passing through the cylinder in the manner shown, the cooling medium being applied internally. To 0001 the cylinder 4 it may be supplied with either a liquid or gaseous cooling medium fed thereto through a supply pipe 7 in communication with a source of supply, not shown.

In my Patent No. 1,430,648 I brought out the fact'that a process, such as therein shown and described, obviated the necessity of using wipers or other smoothing mediums for the coated wires leaving the molten bath, which theretofore were considered indispensable by all wire galvanizers. The reason for obviating these wipers is due to the action of the heat-treating furnace which not only heat-treat per se, but also advance upon the coating as though it had been passed between wipers, and the resulting action is the production of a heavy coating which is flexible, malleable and smooth. It is further s ated 111 said patent that anothe ad an g in the elimination of the wipers is that a heavier coating is permitted to remain on the wire, which in ordinary practice would be removed by the wipers as the wires pass there between. The fact that the coated wire is not wiped as it leaves the molten bath allows a heavier coating to remain upon the wire. Such wire when subjected to the action of the heat-treatment will not only cause the heavy coating to distribute itself around the wire but eliminates brittleness of the coating. Like in the process described in the said patent, the present apparatus obviates the use of wipers; however, I provide a skimming mechanism located between the molten bath and the entrance to the heating chambers of the heat-treating frunace. Such skimming mechanism neither wipes nor smooths the wires, as would wipers, such as are ordinarily used. In the art of galvanizing several different types of wipers are employed, designated as pressure wipers, of the screw or lever types, and charcoal wipers such as are used in connection with the coating of telephone and telegraph wires. The skimming mechanism which I here employ has for its object the removal of skimmings, dross and any foreign material which may collect on the coatings as the coated wires emerge from the coating bath. Of course, I appreciate the fact that the surface of the molten coating metal, at the point where the wires emerge therefrom may be kept free of dross, skimmin s and foreign matter in a well known manner by the use of salammoniac, but this practice is recognized as being too costly for wire galvanizing processes, and therefore, to insure that the coated wires which enter the heattreating furnace free of all dross, skimmings and foreign matter, I have provided an effective skimming mechanism which accomplishes the purposes sought; but without in any way removing the molten metal adhering to the wires. Furthermore, such mechanism will also prevent reachers forming on the wires.

What I claim is 1. In a continuous wire galvanizing apparatus, in combination with a tank containing a molten-metal bath, of skimming means for removing foreign matter adhering to the outer surface of the coating without materially reduci'lg the thickness of the coating, comprising a grooved guiding member over which the coated wires are drawn, and means arranged to internally cool said guiding member. i

2. In a continuous wire galvanizing apparatus, in combination with a tank containing a molten-metal bath, of skimming means for removing foreign matter adhering to the outer surface of the coating without materially reducing the thickness of the coating, comprising a transversely disposed grooved cylinder for guiding the coated wires drawn from the bath, and means to supply a liquid interiorally of the cylinder to cool the same.

3. In a continuous \vire galvanizing apparatus, in combination with a tank containing a molten-metal bath, of a heat treatmg furnace through which the coated wires are drawn upon leaving the bath, a skimming means located between the bath and furnace for removing foreign matter adhering to the outer surface of the coated wires without materially reducing the thickness of the coating, comprising a transversely disposed tubular guiding cross member having spaced annular grooves for the Wires and means to supply a cooling medium interiorally of the guiding member.

Signed at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, this 23 day of Feb.

JOSEPH L. HERMAN. 

